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Christmas Cheer Books Media

Geek Books as Holiday Gifts 202

Posted by michael from the see-spot-run dept.
Sybelius writes "Wired News is running a story that recommends a half dozen good books as holiday gifts. It's a much more inspired list than the one recently offered by Amazon. According to the reviewer, the books chosen are ones that 'any techno-loving, systems-tinkering, hardware-hacking person would love, but that even those who can't program the clock on their VCR will find quite readable.' Do Slashdot readers have any other recommendations for titles that fit this requirement?"
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Geek Books as Holiday Gifts More

Geek Books as Holiday Gifts

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  • Computer Graphics: Principles and Practice in C (Score:3, Interesting)

    by glrotate ( 300695 ) on Saturday December 18, 2004 @07:45PM (#11127253) Homepage
    Computer Graphics: Principles and Practice in C [amazon.com]

    by James D. Foley, Andries van Dam

    Get a geek interested in graphics and learn from the classic.
    • I wasn't aware that there was anyone who actually felt that three dimensional discrete calculus and C programming are both less difficult to understand than a VCR.

      Go you!

      But if you're going there, why not go ahead and get the master work on algorithms, Numerical Recipes, which is now available in C,C++, and Fortran versions. This, just like your suggestion, is hardcore programmers brainfood, not fluff.

      For softer stuff, may I suggest O'Reilly books about scripting languages? It doesn't really matter which one. Pick one. Ruby, perl, python, etc. They give a good introduction to modern programming libraries, while not getting the newbie bogged down in having to write algorithms that are more complicated than they can deal with.
      • I haven't been able to figure out how to set the clock in my car, or set any presets. I don't have a VCR, so I can't compare precisely the difficulty involved, but I'm sure it's similar. That said, I agree with the GP that's an excellent book. I might also suggest Shirley's Fundamentals of Computer Graphics, and Savachenko's 3D Graphics Programming, which I picked out of a bargain bin and was quite pleased with for the discount price.

        That said, anybody have a good link to instructions on how to program
      • why not go ahead and get the master work on algorithms, Numerical Recipes, which is now available in C,C++, and Fortran versions. This, just like your suggestion, is hardcore programmers brainfood, not fluff.

        I don't know if that was supposed to be funny. If you were serious, I'd like to strongly dissuade you from using NR in production code. Don't get me wrong - NR is an excellent teaching aid and it's excellent for getting the concept. It's a very good book to read in an advanced undergrad course on num
        • I don't think we were discussing what books you should pull code from, were we? That's not the subject on the door, anyway.

          You are inferring that because I said that there are versions of this book in C,C++, and Fortran that I meant that you should use the code from the book. I did not say this. What I said was that it's a good book to learn from, as you have agreed.
          There were a lot of times looking through the book that I remember thinking "why did they do it that way? It's certainly convoluted."

          You'
    • Comment removed based on user account deletion

  • Books? That's so 2003! (Score:5, Informative)

    by ErikTheRed ( 162431 ) on Saturday December 18, 2004 @07:45PM (#11127255) Homepage
    Give them a subscription to Safari [oreilly.com].

  • Referrer flood (Score:5, Funny)

    by emcron ( 455054 ) * on Saturday December 18, 2004 @07:48PM (#11127271)
    Let the flood of amazon.com referrer links begin! :-) -- Gotta love it when people try to make $0.83 off slashdot
  • The Harry Potter series is excelent for kids (Adults too).

    • Re:Harry Potter (Score:3, Insightful)

      by miyako ( 632510 )
      Actually, I'd second this. I spent a lot of time resisting the pressure to read the Harry Potter books, but I finally broke down and borrowed the first book from a friend of mine, and I have to say that now I have the entire series of books, and found them all to be quite enjoyable.
      While the reading level of the books is certainly going to be low, and not present much of a challenge to adult readers, JK Rowling manages to do an amazing job of creating a great story and an immersive world with the limited

  • The Ultimate Hitchhiker's Guide (Score:5, Interesting)

    by JNighthawk ( 769575 ) <NihirNighthawk@a[ ]com ['ol.' in gap]> on Saturday December 18, 2004 @07:54PM (#11127300)
    All of my friends have always told me that the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is an awesome book, but I've always had other things on my reading list already. I'm finally done reading the Wheel of Time series and everything by Raymond E. Feist, so I asked for The Ultimate Hitchhiker's Guide [thinkgeek.com] for Christmas. I wonder now, if after hearing "The meaning of life is 42." a million times I'll think it's still funny when reading the books.
    • But the meaning of life isn't 42. 42 is the answer to the question of life, the universe, and everything.
    • I'm finally done reading the Wheel of Time series

      You are never done reading WoT. I'm assuming you're done with the 10 books + 1 prequel that are out. As far as I know, Robert Jordan plans to write at least 2 more books and 2 more prequels. He hadn't earlier mentioned the third prequel, so you never know if he'll add more to his schedule. He might even do another 15 books on some other story arc: Hawkwing's exploits, Lews Therin's story, another Age he hasn't mentioned...there's a lot to be explored.

      Read
      • You are never done reading WoT. I'm assuming you're done with the 10 books + 1 prequel that are out. As far as I know, Robert Jordan plans to write at least 2 more books and 2 more prequels.

        Robert Jordan will keep writing WoT books until he dies, leaving everyone hanging on a cliffhanger ending from the last book he's written.
    • I wonder now, if after hearing "The meaning of life is 42." a million times I'll think it's still funny when reading the books.

      It's not a lot more than a long series of one-liners, but I still think it's very funny. (Though the "42" thing is one of the few that never struck me as that funny, and I'm mystified as to why it gets repeated so much.)

      --Bruce Fields

    • Yes, but what is the question that 42 is the answer to?
    • I am getting more books the x-mass than any other present, I think. Many of which are the bofh books. Google for it, the colum is at the reg. H2G2 is GREAT. the best book(s?) I've ever read. I too own the Ultimate Hitch Hiker's Guide, and though the end... NM, read it. Also get some Mark Knophler under your belt, it will make one scene in So Long and Thanks for all the Fish a ot more touching. "The record got to the good bit." Douglas Adams not only was a great writer, but the best satirist that thi
  • Douglas Adams' classic geek book, I'm buying it for a geek girl. I found that Chapters [chapters.ca] (Canada) sells the entire trilogy in 4 parts [indigo.ca] for $6 or so. Yeah, I'm a cheap geek. I've already received the shipment, it really is the whole damn set of books for $6.
    • If you've got someone who has already read Adam's extremely small collection of works (including HHGTG and the Dirk Gently books, his "we picked up all the clippings of stuff he wrote and put it into a book," and "Starship Titanic" based on his video game), then they might also like Terry Pratchett's books.

      He tells a ripping good yarn, almost all parodies, usually insightful, and always funny. His most famous series is the Discworld books [lspace.org], of which there are 30 or so.

      Reading through these books my favori
      • I second Pratchett, at his best he is incredible. If buying for a gift I'd suggest staying away from the earliest stuff (which can be so dark and sarcastic they are not enjoyable for many people) and his very latest stuff (which suffers from sickening amounts of American style sentimentality). Good books to start with are probably "Guards, Guards" (Ankh-Morpak night watch), "Soul Music" (Death and his relatives), and "Maskerade" (Lancre witches).
      • Actually you left out a few. I've not yet managed to find The Meaning of Liff and its sequel but I hear its good. Last Chance to See is still in print (or was recently) and is a really excellent work.
    • She can't be that big of a geek if she didn't already own them. BTW, the reason that set is so cheap is because it's missing the fifth volume: Mostly Harmless.

  • Code (Score:2, Troll)

    by IceFox ( 18179 )
    I recently picked up "Code: The Hidden Language of Computer Hardware and Software" by Charles Petzold amazon link [amazon.com]. It was a very enjoyable read that tells the history of computers came to be. Not the last 20 years history, but most of the book is from 1600-1960's with a little bit out the modern computer. Very enjoyable read. Inspired me to make my own relays out of wire and a two bit adder. :)

    -Benjamin Meyer

  • Classics of CS (Score:4, Informative)

    by nkh ( 750837 ) on Saturday December 18, 2004 @07:58PM (#11127323) Journal
    The Art of Computer Programming [stanford.edu] (Donald Knuth) and the dragon book [wikipedia.org] on compilers of course (I'm reading the first and I will buy the second in a few days). If you don't like mathematics, a good book on functional programming will make your brain all warm inside!
  • Twisty Little Passages by Nick Montfort Just a Geek by Wil Wheaton

  • Off the top of my Brain.. (Score:1, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward
    Anything by Terry Pratchett!

    His Discworld Series, or the Book Good Omens.

  • Any of the Schaum's Outline Series books. The are inexpensive and teach the subject in the best way possible: require the student to solve problems.

  • Forget tinkering (Score:3, Informative)

    by EEBaum ( 520514 ) on Saturday December 18, 2004 @08:04PM (#11127355) Homepage
    Get them a good piece of geek fiction. Hitchhiker's Guide, LOTR, Asimov, Arthur C Clarke, etc.

  • A Short History of Nearly Everything (Score:5, Interesting)

    by plumpy ( 277 ) on Saturday December 18, 2004 @08:06PM (#11127366) Homepage
    I'd highly recommend Bill Bryson's A Short History of Nearly Everything [amazon.com]. I found it because it was one of Powell's "favorite new titles of the season [powells.com]".

    It covers (briefly) the history of the earth, the universe, Physics and Chemistry. If you know your science, you probably won't learn a lot from it, but the fun part is the way he covers the personalities behind all the discoveries. I'd say at least 2/3 of the book is brief biographies of hundreds of people you probably haven't heard of.

    The writing style is very casual, easy to understand even for non-science nerds, and (most surprisingly) pretty funny. It's not very expensive either. I'd reccomend this book to just about anyone with a casual interest in science (even if that interest is so casual that they haven't sought out science books before).
    • I second that recommendation.

      It truly is a great book, I haven't had a chance to finish it yet, but it'll definitely keep you hooked.
    • I love Bryson's books - I think I've bought most of them. I really was looking forward to reading SHoNE, but was greatly disappointed.

      Although it purports to be a condensed history of science, it's actually highly focused on geology to the detriment of other arguably more influential branches of science. The book is sprinkled with anecdotes surrounding the protagonists of some major discoveries. However, Bryson falls short when he tries to explain the concepts and ideas that have shaken and shaped scientif
    • "Shadows" is a great book written by Carl Sagan and Ann Druyan that takes you all through evolution and not only answers questions but makes the reader more interesting in asking a few of their own. Asks big questions like "Who are we?" and "Where did we come from?"
      Amazon Link to purchase [amazon.com] (I don't get paid for this)

      Amazon Review

      From Publishers Weekly

      In a leisurely, lyrical meditation on the roughly four-million-year span since life dawned on Earth, Sagan and Druyan ( Comet ) argue that territoriality, xen

  • poetry? (Score:4, Interesting)

    by chocolatetrumpet ( 73058 ) <{slashdot} {at} {jonathanfilbert.com}> on Saturday December 18, 2004 @08:11PM (#11127395) Homepage Journal
    I know this is off the beaten path, but...

    any poetry by Octavio Paz, translated into your native language if you don't speak Spanish.

    I just love his stuff.

    Here's a sample:

    Between going and staying the day wavers,
    in love with its own transparency.
    The circular afternoon is now a bay
    where the world in stillness rocks.

    All is visible and all elusive,
    all is near and can't be touched.

    Paper, book, pencil, glass,
    rest in the shade of their names.

    Time throbbing in my temples repeats
    the same unchanging syllable of blood.

    The light turns the indifferent wall
    into a ghostly theater of reflections.

    I find myself in the middle of an eye,
    watching myself in its blank stare.

    The moment scatters. Motionless,
    I stay and go: I am a pause.

    Translated by Eliot Weinberger

  • Two classic accessible books (Score:2, Interesting)

    by Anonymous Coward
    Cuckoo's Egg
    Takedown
  • I'd highly recommend CSS Zen Garden [amazon.com], from the makers of csszengarden [csszengarden.com]. It's not out yet, but I'd recommend it to any webdesigner out there.

  • Just a Geek (Score:3, Informative)

    by brasten ( 699342 ) on Saturday December 18, 2004 @08:16PM (#11127413)
    Wil Wheaton... Great gift for geeks and non-geeks...
  • I've been reading a lot of Eric S. Raymond's content off of his web site [catb.org] lately, and a lot of it is very interesting. The Art of Unix Programming or The Cathedral and the Bazaar would be a great gift.
  • Pretty good book, I ended up getting a copy for a fellow geek friend.

    It took me a while to find a copy in NYC, but I finally found a store that had it.

    Clinky Link [oreilly.com]
  • ASK!

    Theres no "Perfect book", you need to know peoples intrests and it's not difficult to just ask what they'd like. It says you buying something they don't want, then they will do the same for you and you both get what you want and theres none of that "Oh yea I love it.. cough fire lighter", type of thing.

  • Art of Machinima (Score:2, Interesting)

    by gToon ( 841585 )
    Paul Marino's excellent book on making machinima would be a good Christmas gift for the geeks among us. Not only to you get a superb overview of machinima and it's history, you also get step by step tutorials and all of the programs you need to make your own films on the included CD. I'ts also got a funny, laid-back style that will make you laugh while you are trying to figure out the tutorials. *****
  • C++ for dummies
    Java for dummies
    * for dummies ...
  • The freely available online Unix System 7 Manual! [bell-labs.com]

  • What's a VCR? (Score:1, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward
    I read about them once, but not sure what they are for....
  • ...but it's not out yet. It's called "101 ways to get laid".

    :)
    • You don't need a book for that. Just this FAQ [fastseduction.com]

      It's really worth reading. Most of it is useful, except for some NLP crap that I consider to be BS.

      But just reading the FAQ or the newsgroup posts won't get you laid. You have to start putting those techniques in practice; which could be intimidating or be seen as difficult to introverted or shy people (which I think most /.ers are at some degree)

  • Personally (Score:4, Informative)

    by MrHanky ( 141717 ) on Saturday December 18, 2004 @08:29PM (#11127466) Homepage Journal
    I want The LaTeX Companion [amazon.co.uk] by Frank Mittelbach, Michel Goossens et al. LaTeX is a seriously cool piece of software for text publishing -- and far from easy to use, if you want to exploit its full potential (it's not difficult to produce simple but good looking documents, that's almost automagic). From what I've heard, this book is among the best on the subject. Too bad the title makes it sound like a condom.

    So Santa, if you read this: Please, please, please!
    • Agreed. (But I bought it for myself as a late birthday present before it came out and had to wait an extra week or two for Amazon to ship it).

      However, please bear in mind that TLC2e is more of a reference text than a beginner's manual / guide --- it's indispensable for understanding LaTeX's error messages and fairly good for understanding an overview of LaTeX (esp. as an overview of what's on CTAN with the new material in this edition), but to learn it you may want another text (and to understand the inter
    • You might want to start off with Guide to LaTeX [amazon.com] by Helmut Lopka and Patrick Daly. It's got the same publisher (Addison-Wesley) and is a book about using LaTeX. The LaTeX companion (from what I gathered by perusing it in the bookstore earlier tonight) is more about packages that provide additional functionality to the base system.

      I've only had a chance to scan through bits and pieces since I brought it home, but Guide to LaTeX seems to be an excellent book that is a great starting place for learning about
      • Thanks. Yes, Guide to LaTeX seems to be a better starting point, but I've used LaTeX for a while now (written a ~120 page thesis), so I figured I needed more of a reference book. But then again, there are lots of things in LaTeX that I don't understand, but that I can get to work anyway, somehow. It's not unlikely that I need better understanding of the basics.

  • What about the classics? (Score:3, Insightful)

    by meganthom ( 259885 ) on Saturday December 18, 2004 @08:30PM (#11127469)
    Asimov (maybe I Robot would be a good choice with the crappy movie out), Stephenson, Gibson, Nevin, etc.

    I just started reading Ringworld, and I absolutely love it.

    For the physicist/chemist/engineer in your life, I'd recommend the CRC Handbook of Chemistry and Physics [amazon.com]. It's a great reference, and a book we would rarely buy for ourselves...
    • I went with Stephenson's Quicksilver for my brother, who is less into scifi and more into fantasy, historical fiction, etc., and Heinlein's immortal classic The Moon is a Harsh Mistress for a friend with one eye always on the stars. I hope they'll be enjoyable for them, they certainly were for me.
    • OT but why do you say the movie was crappy? It wasn't as deep as it could have been, but it was better than most action films I've seen. The vertical spinning thing was such a logical evolution I was amazed the Wachowskis (sp?) didn't do it in one of their sequels, but instead they did the awful "now it's slow - now it isn't" thing in the hundred Smiths fight. Maybe we can claim I Robot as Matrix 3, it's far superior to the sequels we did get.

      • Agreed.

        "I, Robot" the movie had one main problem for non-Asimov fans -- the blatent advertisements at the beginning.

        For Asimov fans, it an additional problems. There is a corruption of the Susan Calvin character -- in the books and the movie, she seems to be socially non-aware, but for different reasons. In the books, she appears to have rejected spending time to learning the nuances of human interaction, instead, focusing on robots. In the movie, she appears to be more clueless about human intera

  • If I were going to give anyone a book, it would be from the Bastard Operator from Hell [theregister.co.uk] series. The poor clueless users who can't even program their VCR need to know what they're in for if they cross one of us....

  • Brian Greene (Score:1, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward
    Not sure if this qualifies as a GEEK book per se, but Brian Greene's The Elegant Universe and The Fabric of the Cosmos are excellent qualitative descriptions of modern physics. You won't be able to solve any physics problems after reading them but pretty much anyone can at least gain some insight into how physicists think the world works.

    A little heavy on the analogies (IMO) but overall I'd say Greene is more eloquent and clear than Hawking.
  • Point & Click Linux, by Roblimo
    -- includes Simply Mepis CD
    -- includes DVD video of GUI rudiments
    -- 270 pages of Mepis usability HowTo

    Bought my gift copy @ Walmart.com
    for a budding noob at work.
    Tested it myself, liked what I found.
    Next year I buy him beer!

    Looks like an effective way to turn MS
    prisoners into Open Source advocates.
    The book -- not the beer!
    Well maybe that too.

  • Some the cool books on my shelf... (Score:5, Interesting)

    by JoeCommodore ( 567479 ) <larry@portcommodore.com> on Saturday December 18, 2004 @08:59PM (#11127591) Homepage
    Here are some that grace my bookshelf, some may be way out of date. But in genral they are all interesting.

    Computer history & Culture:

    Hackers - Steve Levey (an all time favorite!)

    Fire in the Valley - Frieberger & Swaine (also a favorite)

    Hacker's Dictionary - Eric s. Raymond (give to your techno-poser friends)

    Computer - a history of the information machine - Campbell-Kelly and Asprey

    Digital Deli: The Comprehensive, User-Lovable Menu of Computer Lore, Culture, Lifestyles and Fancy - Lunch Group, Steve Ditlea (late 70s - 80s computer Lore)

    the Compleat Computer - Van Tassel (60s - early 70's computer lore!)

    Tabletop Fare:

    High Score! Illustrated History of Video Games - Osborne Books

    Arcade Treasures - Bill Kurtz (hard to gdet but a good one for arcade buffs)

    Computers - Ain illustrated History - Christian Wurster

    Cookbooks:

    Giga Bites - the official guide to hacker cuisine - Jenz Johnson (hacker oriented recipies)

    Quick Bytes: Computer Lover's Cookbook - Diane Pfifer (more traditional recipies with computerish sounding names)

    Alternative Reading (when you are in tech overload):

    The Big Book of [Urban Ledgends|Hoaxes|Vice|Loosers|Conspiracy| etc.] - Paradox Press (these are comic anthologies covering various fringe subjects, very fun!)

    the Book of Zines, readings from the fringe - Chip Rowe (zines are limited-run home-made magazines, zine anthologies pluck out some of the more interesting/juicy bits).

    ZINES! vols. I and II - V.Vale or V/Search

    Temp Slave - Jeff Kelly (Great for the out of work or recent graduate! from the Zone of the same name))

    Thrift Score - Al Hoff (the guide to being an informed thrifter, from the Zine of the same name)

    For Movie Fans:

    Golden Movie Retriever - Gale Group (love the genre lists in the back)

    the Phsychotronic Video Guide - Michael J Weldon (a good Fringe cinema Guide)

    Nightmare of Ecstasy: Life and Art of Edward D. Wood - Rudolph Grey (about Ed Wood, the most notable hacker of the film industry, his work may not be pretty, but he did it.)

    Some Fiction:

    Colossus, Fall of Colossus, and Colossus & the Crab - D.F. Jones (one of the better computer ruling the world tales).

    Wizard's Bane - Rick Cook (Sword and Sorcery Fantasy with a computer hacker bent, entertaining)

    Microserfs ~ Douglas Coupland (a semi-fictional view of the Microsoft Culture)

    Totally Retro:

    Basic Computer Games (series) - David H. Ahl - (Lots of simple terminal-based BASIC games, maybe give to the PHP/Perl programmer looking to put something fun on thier site)

    Starship Simulation - Roger Garrett (a bold multi-computer Star Trek like, simulation concept written in pseudocode)

    What do you do after you hit RETURN - or the P.C.C.'s First Book of Computer Games - People's Computer Company (retro Whole Earth Catalog meets BASIC Computer Games tabletop fare!)

  • The Making of the Atomic Bomb (Score:4, Interesting)

    by Scott Ransom ( 6419 ) <sransom AT nrao DOT edu> on Saturday December 18, 2004 @09:03PM (#11127610)
    by Richard Rhodes is one of (if not the ) best book that I have ever read. It has something for everyone, but it is especially suitable for geeks as it details the development of quantum mechanics and atomic physics, before diving into one of the most amazing engineering projects ever undertaken by mankind.

    And it is written incredibly well also.

    Highly recommended.

  • Too much fiction for me (Score:5, Funny)

    by krumms ( 613921 ) on Saturday December 18, 2004 @09:08PM (#11127632) Journal

    As it happens, Ash is an enthusiastic quantum-computing amateur ... a retired British physicist who turns out to be more than 4 billion years old ... Ash modifies his quantum computer into a time machine and teleportation device.

    With the help of his new girlfriend, Melody ...



    Okay, I can believe a basement quantum-computing whiz kid, the 4 billion year old physicist and time travel, but a girlfriend? Pull the other one!

  • Transmission (Score:2, Interesting)

    by divvy ( 620836 )
    I would recommend Transmission [amazon.com] by Hari Kunzru. It is the story of a virus writer, who unleashes a virus called Leela.exe -named after his favourite bollywood actress, and the actress herself who basks in the new found international glory as the namesake of the virus. Pretty interesting story of body shopping in U.S. and kitchy culture of bollywood.
  • I recommend any book by V. S. Ramachandran [amazon.com]. Really, anything written by him is a joy to read and packed with knowledge. His latest book is "A Brief Tour of Human Consciousness," [amazon.com] which examines such interesting phenomena as phantom limbs, patients who insist that their poodles or mothers are imposters, synesthetes who see colors in numbers or flavors in sounds, and the root of consciousness in the human brain.
  • The 3 most enjoyable books I've read in the last five years are:

    1. Masters of Doom - the story of John Carmack & John Romero's creation of the game Doom. From their teenage years to their ultimate breakup (sniff).

    2. Just For Fun by Linus Torvalds - Just a very interesting autobiography about a normal guy who creates a software revolution.

    3. The Code Book - gives a history of cryptography with a lot of great info about modern public-key cryptography. Really fun book.

  • List of Books for Software Development (Score:3, Informative)

    by under_score ( 65824 ) <mishkin@berteig. c o m> on Saturday December 18, 2004 @09:40PM (#11127764) Homepage

    NOTE: blatant self promotion.

    I maintain a list of books and other resources for all sorts of people who work in the software development field including of course, programmers, managers, executives, testers, etc.

    Software Resources [berteigconsulting.com]

    The list is heavily weighted towards Agile software development [agilemanifesto.org].

  • Godel, Escher, Bach (Score:3, Interesting)

    by saddino ( 183491 ) on Saturday December 18, 2004 @10:03PM (#11127848)
    IMHO, there is no better geek book. Sure, it's dated. And sure, it's hefty. But no one has ever so fully embraced the ideas of recursive logic and number theory in sample, in writing and in wit. It's a treasure -- and if you're a geek and haven't read it (or tried to read it) then you don't know what being a geek is.

    On Amazon [amazon.com] of course. 777 pages of awesome stuff.
  • Allow me to recommend a great book for any programmer: Find the Bug [findthebug.com]. The book has the source code to 50 short programs, each with one single bug hidden within; the challenge for the reader is to find that bug. This combines the problem-solving challenges of a Martin Gardner book with real training in debugging and code reading. Great stuff for propellerheads, and best of all the book provides enough information about the languages used (C, Python, Java, Perl, and assembler) that programmers of all stripes
  • Mastering Algorithms with C [oreilly.com]

    Lacking a computer science degree, I didn't understand a lot of basic algorithms as well as I should -- some I didn't understand at all. I just used what worked even if something else might have worked better.

    Mastering Alorithms with C went a *looong* way toward teaching me the pros and cons of various sorts, trees, graphs and queues. (There's also nice sections on compression and encryption).

    The explanations are very thorough. It helps to have at least a minimal understand

  • Well, in my experience geeks like Chinese food, so I suggest The Eater's Guide to Chinese Characters [uchicago.edu] by the late James McCawley [umich.edu], a linguist and connaisseur of Chinese food. It teaches you to read Chinese menus. Long out of print, it was reprinted last year. You can get it from the publisher (link above) or Barnes and Noble [barnesandnoble.com].

  • Classic book on networking. I wish it had been the first or second book I'd bought on networking, not the 20th or so.

  • I've got an order in at the local bookstore at the moment. When I pick it up, my next set of books will be:

    These are from a list in the latest Adbusters. I usually get my fiction suggestions from Cory Doctrow's bOINGbOING [boingboing.net]. So Yesterday [amazon.com] was the best recent suggestion.

  • Hard science fiction, adventure, physics, astronomy, biology, artificial intelligence, and more good stuff like that. The hardcover has been available for a year, and the paperback will be out in a couple of weeks (right AFTER Christmas). I'm actually going to release Star Dragon in its entirety electronically at the end of the month as well. For more information and reviews (which were amazingly good), see my novel webpage [mikebrotherton.com]. Thanks for checking it out!
  • "The Night is Large" by Martin Gardner is a diamond in the rough. I haven't heard it mentioned in any geek circles, but it's definitely for people who like to know a little bit about everything, or simply muse about it -- qualities I find pretty much everywhere in geeks.

    The book is a collection of Martin Gardner's essays from Scientific American and the New Yorker spanning the following topics: Physical Science, Social Science, Pseudoscience, Mathematics, The Arts, Philosophy, and Religion.

    Now I know some
  • first off, don't buy geek books as gifts unless you're /certain/ they will be well received. kinda like buying a set of pans for your mother.

    anyhoo, on my list:

    "information theory and statistics" by kullback
    "fundamentals of digital image processing" by a.k. jain
    "digital video processing" by a.m. tekalp
    "calculus: early transcendental functions" by larson, hostetler, & edwards
    "principles of data mining" by d. hand, h. mannila, & p. smyth
    "elements of statistical learning" by t. hastie, et. al

    of cour

  • Any of these will change the way you look at the world:

  • classic 3 volume set that any science/math geek should have.

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